MilConsumer Blog Feed

In place since 2000, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule makes it illegal for websites and online services to collect personal information from kids under 13 without parents’ verifiable consent. It’s been a decade since the last COPPA Rule update, and the FTC is now proposing revisions to reflect technological changes, provide greater protections for kids’ personal information, and ensure that parents – not companies – are still in the driver’s seat when it comes to children’s data.

Rite Aid has “used facial recognition technology in its retail stores without taking reasonable steps to address the risks that its deployment of such technology was likely to result in harm to consumers as a result of false-positive facial recognition match alerts.” That’s the lawyerly language of the FTC’s just-filed action against drug store chain Rite Aid and a subsidiary. Put in more common parlance, the FTC alleges that Rite Aid launched an inadequately tested and operationally deficient covert surveillance program against its customers without considering the impact that its inaccurate facial recognition technology would have on people wrongly identified as “matching” someone on the company’s watchlist database. Among other things, a proposed settlement in the case would ban Rite Aid from using any facial recognition system for security or surveillance purposes for five years.

A blueprint to wealth? Not so fast. And not so wealthy. The FTC says a business opportunity scheme known as “Blueprint to Wealth” has been targeting people who want to make money working from home, including older adults, with false promises of a proven system generating thousands a month in “passive income.” According to an FTC lawsuit filed against Samuel James Smith, Robert William Shafer, Charles Joseph Garis, Jr., and Business Revolution...

“Not all voice actors are celebrities or well-known voices,” said Tim Friedlander, President of the National Association of Voice Actors and voice of CBS’s Professional Bull Riders. “Most are blue collar, working class voice actors who are working 40 plus hours a week. Over 60% of the voice actors are located outside of LA and New York. We’re not anti-tech or anti-AI, as many have said before.” There are many perspectives on generative AI...

In the drive toward Combating Auto Retail Scams, the FTC’s just-announced CARS Rule is a big win for consumers, who lose billions of dollars in wasted time and money each year to illegal practices like bait-and-switch tactics and junk fees. It’s also a big win for honest car dealers who strive to apply established truth-in-car-buying principles at their dealerships and shouldn’t have to compete against dealers who don’t. Why is the CARS Rule such a game changer and what compliance guidance does the FTC have for industry members? Read on for more information.

It’s troubling enough for a company to claim that consumers who take their course can make major money by learning “high demand” sales skills as a telemarketing “closer.” (Insert your favorite David Mamet quote from "Glengarry Glen Ross" here.) But to keep on making those representations after receiving Notices of Penalty Offenses Concerning Money-Making Opportunities and Endorsements from the FTC? That’s brazen. Proposed settlements with operators of a scheme called “The Sales Mentor” serves as a reminder that the law looks askance at outfits that bilk consumers out of their savings through false or unsubstantiated earnings claims.

You’ve heard about the deceptive tactics of government imposters. According to a proposed FTC settlement, a Florida company made misleading Made in USA claims, falsely described itself as “veteran-operated,” and didn’t live up to its promise to donate 10% to military charities. It looks like Uncle Sam needs to watch out for an imposter we call Uncle Sham.

It used to be that family legends about background and heritage had to stay legendary. But the popularity of genetic test kits have made them a hot topic around the Thanksgiving table. A proposed FTC and California settlement with CRI Genetics reminds companies in this burgeoning sector that their claims are covered by established federal and state truth-in advertising standards. What’s more, the case reinforces key principles relevant to any advertiser about product reviews and the allegedly deceptive use of digital dark patterns.

As text-to-speech AI has improved, so has voice cloning technology. The prospects could be promising, but from the FTC’s perspective, voice cloning also presents serious consumer protection concerns. The FTC is committed to using a wide range of tools to prevent harm to the public. That’s the reason for the just-announced Voice Cloning Challenge.

Yes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, the tree does make a sound. And, yes, if a data breach happens and you fail to timely notify affected customers, that’s an unfair practice. That’s just one of the lessons businesses can learn from the FTC’s proposed settlement with Global Tel*Link (GTL) and its subsidiaries, Telmate and TouchPay.